16036: (Hermantin)Sun Sentinel-Haitian, Cuban refugees make S. Florida landings (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Haitian, Cuban refugees make S. Florida landings


By Christiana Sciaudone and Tanya Weinberg
Staff Writers

June 25, 2003

The Hollywood Broadwalk was quiet, and so was the morning when waiter
Michael Rinaldi arrived at work just after 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Minutes later, he glimpsed a boat just off shore and said he watched about
40 Haitian refugees jump off and make a beeline for the shore.

"The width of the Broadwalk was filled," Rinaldi said. "I saw limbs flailing
everywhere."

The Hollywood incident was one of two very different refugee landings
Tuesday morning.

Hollywood police combed the beach area and detained 11 of the Haitian
refugees, many of whom scattered and tried to elude capture. A few dozen
miles to the south, a boater called in another landing. Just after 9 a.m.
authorities found 20 Cubans, but no boat, on Elliot Key.

"They were just sitting there," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Anastasia
Burns.

All the refugees were transferred to the custody of the Bureau of Customs
and Border Protection but likely will face different fates.

In most cases, Cubans who make it to land are released within a few days.
Under the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, they are eligible for legal
permanent residency one year later.

Under Bush administration policy, Haitians are almost always kept in
detention until they are deported or granted asylum months, or occasionally
even years, later.

The boat transporting the Haitians was a 1978 26-foot Searay cabin cruiser.
The previous owner, George McAleese, 68, of Hollywood said he recently sold
the boat, called Grandpa's Folly, to a Bahamian man for $7,000.

The current owner of the boat had not been located, U.S. Border Patrol
spokesman Tom Rockwood said. He said the 11 Haitians captured included one
juvenile and two women. One was taken to the hospital after complaining she
felt ill, but the refugees showed no signs of exposure or dehydration,
Rockwood said.

"We don't believe we have the driver in custody," he said. "We don't know
yet if we have a smuggling case or not."

Border Patrol is investigating the Haitian landing but has not learned much
from the detainees, Rockwood said. "We don't know how many people there
were. They're giving us several different stories."

Christiana Sciaudone can be reached at csciaudone@sun-sentinel.com or
954-385-7922.


Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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